A Dangerous Collision Of Peace And Power
by farahsbc
Summary: Felicity finally found herself in a good place.happy with Oliver,with her job.What happens when that peace is threatened with old enemies and a new mission,one she can't share with Oliver? FELICITY CENTRIC /Olicity/team arrow/lots of Diggle/H.I.V.E [not the show version].
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: hey everyone so this is my first story ever. I love Arrow, i think Felicity Smoak is like the most awesome character ever so this is a story about her and how a genius like her struggles through normal life especially when she has to deal with enemies of equal levels. How would a puzzle hater solve that mystery****.**

**English isn't my first language, this is a new experiment to me so feedback is really appreciated and needed. In other words, simpler ones "i need you to Review".**

**Also this one is really short, the others are going to be way longer i'm having a 4k margin in mind.**

**And one more thing, this is set in the beginning of season 3 with Oliver taking back the company from Ray with Roy still firmly in team Arrow _and_ Felicity having A LOT differences in her canon background after all changing her story is the reason i wrote this fic in the first place, there will be flashbacks for just that purpose probably in most the chapter but not sure yet. **

**-Don't own Arrow- Happy Reading. _till next time be safe._**

**-_Farah-_**

* * *

**Chapter 1 : WHERE IS SHE?**

It's almost a year since Oliver and Felicity moved in together and it still took him by surprise whenever he came home after work on one of their free Arrow days to find her already all settled there let it be her on the couch watching TV or in the kitchen cooking the Donna Smoak chicken soap or his personal favorite, her laid out on their bed trying to fix an old radio or an out of service computer, seeing her lost in her techyy stuff made his heart skip a beat because that was the felicity he fell in love with. The remarkable one and only.

But for a couples of weeks something was bothering his babbling blond friend and the reason he noticed that was the evident lack of babbling from his partner, she barely talked with him beyond the basics, something was wrong.

So when she almost cut her hand misplacing the glass of water on the corner of the kitchen table, he had to speak up: "Felicity are you okay?" He asked with worry.

"what yeah totally fine got lost in thought I guess" he kept his questioning gaze on her telling her she better elaborate on her answer until she sighed in defeat "mm…m It's been a distracting couple days for me" she looked at him with fear and a little bit of anger but he knew he wasn't the source of these feelings, it was whatever felicity was about to tell him next "cooper got out of jail, he broke out two days ago and nobody knows where he is right now I'm trying to find his location but…but the only place I'm getting at is frustrating land".

"Oh, that is a fair reason to be distracted but wait you've been strange for weeks" there was something more worrying her and he knew it. "FE-LI-CI-TY what are you not telling me" he finished looking at her guilty expression and her pressed lips.

"I think I am being followed" she whispered he almost didn't catch it". Oh now she was in angry Oliver's land, noticing his iron melting glare she whimpered " well I didn't tell you because it's probably stupid and you had so much on your plate didn't want to bother you I mean between running verdant with Thea and pulling QC back up after getting it back from Ray you barely had time for the city, the last thing you needed was me telling you about a delusional something stalking me besides when it comes to stalking I'm an expert I handled myself before I can do it again "she said in one breath.

"Felicity after everything we've been through we're way past the point where you hide these things from me, I need to know when something like that happens, well _ some things _"he corrected himself "at least you could've told Diggle, we'll look into this tomorrow ok?"

She nodded and turned to clean their dinner with him collecting the leftovers to put them in the refrigerator and picking up the broken glass off of the floor.

* * *

The next day seemed to start on a good feet considering the glorious make out session she just had with Oliver, the fact that she was early for work hence the delicious cup of coffee she was holding from her favorite coffee shop. Oh how she was wrong because right now, she was blindfolded, she had coffee all over her and she was biting the hell out of her already swollen lip, and she had no idea where she was or who had taken her.

She should have listened to Oliver and waited for him so they can drive to work together but it was latte special day and if she didn't go early she'd be stuck in the morning rush meaning she wouldn't get to work on time and the girl loved her coffee besides she really didn't think the stalking thing was real let along life threatening and honestly she wasn't even sure whoever took her had anything to do with that so let's not jump to conclusion shall we? However there was no single cell in her genius pretty brain that would have concluded the face that she saw when light was allowed again to her eager eyes.

* * *

The Army was a changing experience to Diggle, it changed every fiber of his being some for the best and some for the worst, after coming back home he had to deal with his war syndrome as he liked to call it when you have to force yourself to let go, to stop glancing around every fifteen second anticipating the enemy; When death wasn't in every corner you take. He learned the hard way that peace is something you lose so easily yet gaining it back was anything but.

Everything and everyone around you is so still and you're in vibrating mode, you're trying to shake them so they would see the danger and fight back but they don't. Their negligence infuriate you, it frustrate you that your loved ones won't fight for their lives which leaves the saving on your shoulder unbeknownst to you that there is no saving needed, because the only danger your family is facing is life and life is not something you can fight with guns and grenades, you can never control life and what challenges its throws at you. Once you surrender to that fact, until you let go, only then you'll have your peace of mind again and you can connect with the world again, you can see the beauty again, and you'll anticipate life instead of death.

Diggle survived that phase, he let his demons go and channeled his fighting energy until he reached the point of physical and emotional stability, the one that allowed him to have a healthy family without having to sacrifice his mission with Oliver. That is exactly why Diggle knows what Oliver is going through right now because Oliver is still a soldier and danger still surrounds him and his loved ones.

At this point Oliver anticipates death and he's got family to protect, except that danger isn't an illusion, Felicity is missing and they have no clues on her whereabouts. It's been ten hours and the only lead they had was the place they lost contact with her from, a waitress from the coffee shop across Queen Consolidated said she saw felicity getting in a blue car. Of course the car turned out to be stolen and was left on the city's borders. who ever had her, they made sure to not leave any trace, they were professionals and that scared Diggle the most, he knew that Oliver would explode any minute now and it's going to be ugly, that's why he made sure to keep him away from people and to calm him the best he can because Oliver freaking out won't get them any closer to Felicity.

Captain Lance was also shaken when Oliver called the police, he had a father-daughter relationship with felicity and he swore they are going to do their best.

Oliver was expecting every devastating scenario at this point, he felt helpless and just thinking what Felicity could be suffering right now made him want to set the city on fire. He was lost in thought when Diggle's voice called him out. He turned around to see a disturbed look on his friend's face "they found her or she found them, she collapsed on the door of the police station, they took her to the hospital".

* * *

**A/N: I _know_ not much Felicity in the first chapter of a Felicity-centric story, but trust this will probably be the only one.  
**

**So what did you think? should I keep going? are you interested in more ? hit me in the comment section.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hello again, how's everyone? so about this story I haven't written it all, I'm still going chapter by chapter. Upside? You can throw me all the ideas you want and I'll try my best to fit them in the story.**

**All the love for everyone that followed, reviewed, also all the favorites. I send you all my fictional heart shaped kisses. **

***usual disclaimers apply***

**On to the chapter thank you for your patience. R&amp;R**

**_-Farah-_**

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**Chapter 2: Slippery Connections**

The ride to the hospital was a blur to Oliver, before they had news about her, he was clueless, kept telling himself that only if they had something to hold onto, he wouldn't be helpless nor without purpose, he would have a reason to breathe. Now she's only a couple miles away and he feels helpless all the same, his head is in overdrive with all kinds of questions: how is she? Who took her? Why? Are they still after her? And the scarier of them all, is it arrow related? He is so confused and relentless, he just wants to hold her hand but among all the confusion one thing is for sure. Whoever, whatever did this, it lived its last days.

There was police cars all around the entrance of the hospital, that was bad news, Oliver thought to himself.

"Captain lance?" Oliver asked startling the man sitting in front of the hospital room the recipients pointed him and Diggle towards.

"Jesus Christ! Oliver can't you tell a man's mind is someplace else, I think my heart overused its quota in the surprise department." the captain said standing to his feet.

"Sorry, just… felicity's room?" Oliver gestured to the closed door in front of them.

"Oh yeah that sweet girl she's in there the doctors are seeing her right now. As far as I saw she didn't have more than a bruised lip". Just then a doctor appeared asking for the family of Felicity Smoak.

"Hey there so what did I miss?" Felicity said watching Oliver enter the room ever so carefully, she didn't want careful, she wanted, no needed to be in his arms right away. She missed him.

Felicity's voice washed over him like magic, gone all the dark images he replayed over and over till this moment, gone the aimless exiting, he was home.

"Hey baby, god I was scared!" Oliver broke down kissing felicity pouring all his senses, he opened his eyes slowly afraid if he quickened the process everything will turn to dust.

Felicity wiped away the tear that slipped on his cheek. She could see how tired he was, the fear in his eye. Her heart broke for him, her temporary kidnaping was necessary, she knew that now. It was her choice and a heartbroken Oliver won't stop her, she had to be strong for the sake of everyone. "I'm right here, look at me, right here and perfectly safe" she reassured him.

"Safe, that you are but in a hospital bed nonetheless one day I'm going to lose half my body weight sweating my mind over you" she turned to see Diggle looking at her with brotherly affection. His eyes were as hooded as Oliver's with worry written all over his face.

Looking between him and Oliver she couldn't remember a moment when she was more grateful, she had her family around her. Who would want more? *_I wonder how long they'll stay once they figure out what you're about to lie about*_ she paled trying to chase away the little voices inside her head, she had to shut it down if she had any hope pulling her story not just through the police but also Oliver and Diggle.

"I hope I'm not disturbing" Captain Lance said apparently coming in the room "I thought I'd see if you were okay".

"thank you Dect…" she stopped herself knowing no matter what he becomes he will always be a detective in her eyes looking out for the people in their most vulnerable moments whether someone losing their family or their family losing them, he was always a hero to these people shielding them with the law. It didn't matter if the latter was effective or not, his real weapon was his perseverance in spending every minute possible saving those in need, he gave his all and that was what made him a hero of starling city ." Captain" she acknowledge with a proud nod "always watching over me, thank you".

"Well it's my job" he replied, smiling at the compliment "speaking of detectives, they are outside now but you can give your statement tomorrow absolutely no problem"

"No actually I'd like to do it now, I'm okay, the doctor said I have to stay the night just for observation seriously a tiny fever and they want to take twelve hours of your life and to be honest the first thing I want to see once I'm out of here is my beloved sofa not a police precinct. Not that I have anything against police station it's just they make me uncomfortable with all stuff that goes on in it. It's enough you have disgusting morals you don't have to dress accordingly no police fashion will bust you for it" taking a second she retreaded "and I meant the prisoners not the officers oh god help me I meant THE CRIMINALS" she yelled the last part mortified of the idea of insulting one of the most respectable men in her life.

"No problem honey I know what you meant' I'll tell them you're ready" Captain lance assured her as he left to get the detectives waiting in the hospital's lobby.

"They took my purse then knocked me out. The first thing I saw when I woke up was an old lady, she took me to the bus station, I headed straight to the police station and the rest is history" Felicity said to the detective praying he'd keep the questions to minimum and go with her mugging story.

"But if it's about your purse, why kidnap you? Did you get to see any of their faces?" the detective kept going trying to get as many details from her as possible.

"Maybe they were afraid I'd yell or something, it was probably a panic move so when they cooled down and their brains restarted, they let me go."

"No Felicity they didn't let you go, they dumped you in an abandoned ally in the middle of nowhere after keeping you for almost 10 hours" Oliver said in an angry laced voice, felicity saw the irritation in his eyes. Did she give away something for him to have this reaction? Didn't she look mugged enough? Another sentence she never thought she'd say in her life "Officers I just need this nightmare to be over is there more questions? I'd like to send my lawyer for the needed paper work later."

"Oh course take your time. That would be all, please get better Ms. Smoak." With that the detectives left along with Captain Lance.

Despite Felicity's protest, Oliver didn't budge and insisted that he will be spending the night with her at the hospital, the people that took her were still free in the street and he wasn't about to take any risks. Besides they'll spend the evening playing monopoly and he knew she couldn't resist the chance to and he quotes *beat him senseless*.

Oliver woke up from the couch facing Felicity's bed to see her fighting the air helplessly, she was obviously having a bad dream, and he knew from his own experience that it would be best to keep his distance and a close eye at the same time just in case but something drew his attention, she was saying a name over and over and it spooked his curiosity because it wasn't a familiar one for all the years he knew felicity not one time that name came out so he took a mental note to himself to look into it.

* * *

Felicity was counting the minutes till she finally gets home, she had a lot of work to do and her tablet surely won't get the job done, that and the fact that Oliver and Diggle shadowed her every move ever since yesterday.

All she wanted was to go home and that was Oliver and his penthouse and even though what she needs for her work was her super laptop, the one she personally designed from scratch, she needed to find a way not to attract Oliver's attention.

Getting out of the shower, she headed to bed only to find Oliver fast asleep with his shoes still on.

She could only imagine how tiring yesterday must have been for him. She wouldn't dare picture the state she'd be in if the case was reversed. Her entire life she was careful not to fall in love, she tried to avoid it at all costs because she knew lies and love don't mix, Oliver might not be the oversharing type of guy maybe tight-lipped even but he never lies, not to her which makes her love for him that much harder.

Shaking her tears, she neared the bed, took of his shoes off, and sat on the edge of the bed, if somebody asked her five years ago where would she be? She would never guess the place she was in at the moment.

Oliver Queen was still a strange element in her world. People like Oliver Queen would date models and high society ranking women not IT girls well former IT girls since she's been head of Applied Sciences department for almost a year now but yet again Oliver Queen was way more than starling Celebrity and businessman and she was more than an IT girl, given their alter ego it should be no surprise that they met.

Probably they wouldn't be involved romantically and he would have known what she did in her free time but who's being specific?

With a shrug she placed a soft kiss on his forehead and moved from his side, a hand on her waist stopped her, she must've woke him up. He was looking at her with his beautiful sea blue eyes, drinking her in, he dragged her to his lap kissing her but it wasn't one of their I love you kisses, this one felt different, more like a first kiss one that holds a promise, of what? She wasn't sure.

"you need some sleep, I'm just gonna work a little bit maybe that will make me sleepy since right now I'm anything but , I was so excited to get out of the hospital I think it'll take some time to lower my adrenaline levels again" she said interrupting the kiss.

"Felicity, you need rest and you spending hours on your _coding practice_ doesn't look like rest to me besides how many times do you need to rewrite the same thing".

"no, what I really need is something to take my mind off of things and since sex is off the table for the night because we're both tired. Oh no, no funny ideas mister" felicity warned noticing the familiar glimmer in Oliver's eyes "My coding practice will have to do". She replied innocently.

"Alright sorry, have at it just promise me not to stay up too long. Remember what the doctor said".

"Promise, I want push my body, goodnight".

Writing codes and setting up firewalls was always a second nature to her, she worked hard giving her work a certain quality. It was her baby and someone was messing with her system and that she didn't like, because that meant they were trying to distract her from their real plan betting she couldn't multitask.

They were wrong however she could tell it won't be an easy task, they were invading her full force. whatever their target was they wanted it bad.

* * *

"Felicity came to work?" Diggle asked.

"Yeah something about her being rest-phobic." Oliver said sarcastically.

"Com'on man you know her, she'll probably spend the day behind her desk" Diggle laughed lightly.

"Yes sadly I do, she said she had some shopping to do, she's leaving her office in ten" Oliver said after looking at the office clock.

"And you okay with that?" Diggle eyed his friend carefully.

"With what? With the fact that my girlfriend lied to me. Oh everything is _fine_" Oliver countered not bothering lifting his head from the papers spread all over his desk.

"Oliver" Diggle started but Oliver interrupted him "Felicity hates shopping with a passion she spends hours picking clothes online because she hates walking in the streets going from a shop to another. All I know is right now she's god knows where, doing god knows what but IT IS NOT SHOPPING".

"Look man she's probably not shopping like you said but whatever it is" Diggle took a minute to reorganize his thoughts "maybe she just needs some privacy and when she comes back, I'll talk to her, see what I can get out of her. You, with that attitude. You're going to give her space" Diggle pointed out his finger in warning "until we figure this out, if it's serious or not, you're staying away from her. You both are family to me, and as much as you make each other happy, when shit like this happens both of you go in self-destructive mode. I've got both of your asses to take care of and I won't have you or your relationship blow in my face. So you are going to behave and keep normal around her you hear me?"

"Fine whatever" Oliver relented grudgingly. "Yesterday in the hospital, the doctor kept her the night because of her fever".

"What about that?" Diggle tried to follow Oliver's logic.

"She kept saying a name nonstop maybe you can look into it, we can use my Bratva connection with the car description the waitress gave us. I just can't help it that there is something there. The police couldn't find anything that day, someone must've tempered with the traffic cameras or something".

"Yes, definitely worth following" Diggle agreed "what was the name?"

* * *

Felicity hurried out of her office, she lied to Oliver and she had to get going before her conscious had a say and she went back running asking for his forgiveness. No! She's a big girl she made a choice years ago and she's sticking with it damn it!

She knew she should've gave something other than shopping anything other than that, god she needs to work on her excuses*YES IQ GODS I SEE YOU MOCKING ME WITH ALL YOUR GLORY WELL YOU CAN SHOVE THAT Smug little…*she abruptly stopped herself, "Felicity Smoak you don't yell at gods they'll send thunders and make a cute ass crispy out of you" she chastised herself "SHIT! Who yells at someone in their brains? Great just when I thought I couldn't get any crazier" she cursed lightly getting in her car.

Felicity entered her favorite coffee house and went straight to her favorite table, one that's not too big not too small, Outside of the sun yet with the right amount of daylight.

"Excuse me? I'm not trying to overstep on your privacy or anything but do you mind sharing the table? it's my favorite and I'm kinda exhausted " she stopped at the confused look the stranger was giving her, she needed to explain.

"See I've been doing some shopping seriously would it hurt the human race to just cram all the shops in one place you know, I mean it's not necessary to know, most men would never know the struggle instead they'll just bitch about it whenever we go out. If we don't shop regularly we're neglecting our feminine side and god forbid they walk next to a girl with her hair messy but hey screw hygiene when you tell them to shave their underarms cz it's more manly" she stopped again but now the guy wasn't looking at her with confusion * shit now he thinks I'm certified crazy running from the house sure thing everybody talks about women's social equality to a complete stranger they just met, get it together girl *.

When she saw the amusement in his eyes with a smirk on his lips, she asked "I just said all that out loud, haven't I? She sighed at his nod.

"Is there a problem here? Do you need anything sir?" the waitress said staring at Felicity with unease and maybe disgust? Felicity couldn't decide which, she probably heard the entire conversation or more accurately felicity's babble since she barely gave the guy a chance to speak a word.

"No problem at all, I was about to share my table with the lady so would you please take her order and bring me another cup of coffee? Thank you". After the waitress did what he said, he sent her with a wink and a very charming smile. No wonder the waitress was being overprotective, any woman with half a brain would melt for that.

"Hey blondie miss me?"

"Oh carl what girl with half a brain wouldn't? I thought you weren't flying home till next week"

"Well when world war three is about to start you fly a week earlier" when she suddenly stilled, he reached for her hand "hey it's okay, I'm sure we're going to get through this. And you of all of us, the one with a chance to actually get out of this thing in one peace, if anyone should feel safe, It. Is. You. Never forget that."

No matter how much a person believed in his own capabilities, hearing your best friend's vote of confidence helps with the reality check, that you're not delusional, that you're strong. After taking a minute to let go of the fear, she realized that he still hasn't released her hand.

She snatched away "we're supposed to be strangers remember?" she said with a nervous laugh.

"Yea I know but you're the one blowing away the cover you're not supposed to dress sexy as hell, it'll distract me and when I don't focus, I work on pure instinct" he said lifting his eyebrows at her suggestively.

"It's normal wear" she stated.

"I know" he said taking pride in the blush showing on her cheeks.

"Alright fine! Can we please get this done, I can't put my life on hold like that, so just spit it out what the hell happened? Why did the network crash? I repaired the fractures yesterday but whoever did this wanted to show off so they didn't cut deep and i tried a bit of digging last night to see if i can find a trail anything but i found nothing. Where the hell was everyone? Taking a nap while Houdini was getting inside our home! And please tell me you had nothing to do with cooper breaking out or I swear..."

"Jeez put the knife down I wasn't the one on call and no I'm not telling you their names because chopping their heads off will do nothing to help the situation. And I had no idea cooper was out damn it he knows too much he can endanger the entire operation".carl took a breath clearly exhausted not from her rant as an onlooker would think but from the problems he found himself and his friends in recently ." Okay I asked around nothing significant was happening in the past week, no money or people transfer besides the chief didn't give us any red alerts. That's why we need you to figure out who and what they're after" Carl explained

"Carl you still haven't told me how they got in. It took me eight hours to fix things yesterday. My boyfriend was about to call the national guards and I'm pretty sure my lame cover story didn't cut through. So you mind spreading the light here?"

"Well that's also for you to find out and don't get me started on that boyfriend of yours, if he doesn't pop the question soon, he's facing some real competition, I told you I won't keep you in the market for too long".

"Carl" she said in warning.

"Look one minute everything's fine the next there's a frequency blur and then puff everything shuts down. Nothing like that ever happened since the network was founded. I smell an insider so you have to be extra careful we have no idea what we're facing. You have to be prepared for anything, I'm staying in Starling for a couple of weeks in case you need me. I'll take care of the cooper thing and update you" he signaled for the waitress to get them the bill.

"One more thing I'll be your only connection don't trust anyone else, you know how to find me." With a wink and his famous smile he fixed the bill and got out of the coffeehouse leaving an overwhelmed Felicity.

A minute later, she stood off of the table * no slacking now girl, got a world war to stop * she told herself with determination.

* * *

Oliver was about to get in the conference room for a video call when he saw Felicity getting out of the elevator. But not even seeing her beforehand did prepare him for the full bear hug felicity practically jumped him with and he had to take a couple of steadying steps back.

"Sorry, needed that" Felicity said as she pulled away after a moment.

"Anytime baby" Oliver lifted her chin kissing her deeply, felicity responded to him immediately almost with hunger, he ended the kiss and looked at her eyes, they were blown with desire. He wondered why the intensity, Felicity was a lot of things but never intense, that was his trait.

Brushing the stray hair out of her face, he sighed, just when he thought he couldn't love her any more than he already does, she goes on her cute mode and proves him wrong all over again.

Felicity was definitely keeping something from him and he was going to figure it out no matter what. He couldn't help the flip in the bottom of his stomach, maybe a little disappointment because whatever problem she's in, Felicity didn't trust him enough to confide in him, to turn to him for help, and it stung bad.

And to cement the fact, she effectively and professionally avoided the car Diggle sent on her trail, like she wanted to lose it and based on Diggle's men she was alone in the car so where did she learn to drive like that? and why would she learn that kind of driving in the first place? His head buzzed with unanswered questions but he reluctantly kept it in. he would take Diggle's advice and act when they had more proof.

Felicity deserved the benefit of the doubt.

"You know we haven't talked about the stalking thing yet, maybe we should activate your tracker so nothing like last time happens again and I think it's better if I take your self-defense sessions from Diggle that way you're not limited in the time front".

"What? No! No tracker, I mean remember I broke it last time and it'll take weeks to get a new one and for me to enhance it so the tracker thing will definitely wait. I guess that leaves the training, sure why not? But you mister need to go easy on me. When you train me, you end up Mr. sexy sweat, I end up barely catching my breath".

"I know other ways than training to ensure that outcome" he smirked putting his arms on each side of her head trapping her.

"Uh uh noppp" she replied "we're in work so not happening, I'll just head back to Applied Sciences and you're gonna stay here and you're going to behave no dirty text messages, last time I almost broke our new prototype, the one about electr…oh!" the words died in her mouth the minute Oliver nipped the pulse point on her neck.

A loud cough brought them back from their little word and Oliver stepped off of her to see Diggle frowning at them "how many times I said no playing in the office have mercy on my eyes."

"Sorry Dig" Oliver and Felicity said in union.

"Well I guess I'll see you tonight" a ring phone interrupted her "yeah…no…I'm on my way… no, don't TOUCH THAT" she hung up and looked at Diggle apologetically "gotta go sorry, those idiots at the place they call a scientific institution is going to drive me out of my mind".

"Sure" Diggle waved at her as she got into the elevator, when he turned he was met with Oliver's expecting eyes. "So what did you find?"

Diggle walked to Oliver throwing him a couple of pictures, pictures of Felicity sitting with a man probably Oliver's age "who's that?"

"Meet Carl Zado" Diggle answered sitting in the chair opposite Oliver's desk.

"Wait a sec I know that name" Oliver murmured.

Diggle clasped his hands in his lap "I figured you would, he's Bratva".

* * *

**A/n: hey there you made it to the end of the chapter, that's good news! Now I know some might get upset with Felicity because she's lying to Oliver and Diggle but trust me it's justified. Oh and what did you think of Carl I think he's pretty cool.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey guys, did everyone recover from the Arrow Promo and the episode? I know I hadn't. I'm not gonna spoil anything but the Olicity shots in the promo, my breath still hitch whenever I see them somewhere.**

**A big thank you for everyone supporting this story, Loublue this one is for you ;)**

**Yeah and no Beta so all mistakes are mine, as always R&amp;R. Enjoy!**

**_-Farah-_**

* * *

**Chapter three: Caution! Structured Chaos Ahead.**

"What do you mean he's Bratva, why on earth would Felicity meet a Bratva member behind my back?" came Oliver's shocked reply.

"Technically she didn't".

"John" Oliver said his tone full of tiresome, he barely had enough energy to have this conversation let along running in circles at the same time.

"I know what I said Oliver, for a stranger's eye it was simply two strangers sharing a table in a busy coffee house but with all the coincidences going on in the past couples of days, her kidnapping that was covered way too professionally for it to be a mugging, cooper getting out, her being stalked, that and Argus being on high alert for a classified case even Lyla wasn't allowed access to. I knew I had to do a little bit more digging. Since Felicity moved in Starling city, every five to sixth months the both of them" Diggle said the words pointing to the pictures in front of Oliver. "Somehow ended up in the same place, magically most of the times in a talking distance, sometimes on either side of a theater." He looked Oliver straight in the eyes "I have a bad feeling about whatever I feel is flying in the air."

"Oh my god what do we do now, we can't ask her, she obviously won't be honest, we can't even use the foundry without tipping her off, Even Argus seems useless at this point" Oliver uncharacteristically panicked.

"Oliver calm down there has to be a way for us to know more".

"Like what w…wait you said he's Bratva" at Diggle's nod, he continued "I believe it's time I meet the newly arrived fellow of the brotherhood, it's customary after all".

Diggle smirked at his friend "just keep the _customary greetings_ to a minimum, anything physically visible isn't worth it, you need to trust me on that".

* * *

After her meeting with Carl, Felicity found herself jumping from the slightest noises. It's been a long time since she pulled her guard up like that, ever since her college days. Damn fate and his sick sense of humor, no matter where she went, trouble had to follow.

If you go back to high school Felicity right now and tell her how her life is going to turn upside down the minute she steps foot in her college dorm, she would have laughed her heart out because crazy stuff don't happen to someone like her, someone normal dare she say .

But it appears that her dear old friend Ms. destiny has a completely different opinion which means normal like her gets involved with an international crime organization calling itself H.I.V.E. because apparently she's smart enough to be marked on their radar.

To their credit they didn't go after her in the first place, their recruiter eye was trained on her best friend slash mother of a twelve year old. Would turning the citizen of the year recipient into an international criminal be her business? not usually but it is when that person is someone Felicity Smoak is willing to give her life for so yeah something had to be done back then but even when she offered herself to go instead they refused saying they wanted the smarter cookie. She knew Lily was smarter than her but that got to be a kick to someone's ego.

As a matter of fact all that did was make her angrier, and you don't want to get on Felicity Smoak's shit list, in the end she ended up fighting them off with the aid of the very person she thought she'll never see again in her life, her father Noah Kuttler

For some reason seeing his daughter walk a thin line between life and death woke some fatherly sense into him, enough to go rogue on his criminal buddies and work on defeating them. No matter what kind of relationship Felicity had with her absentee father she had to admit that he saved her life, he gave them the victory torch, Carl's words not hers because as far as Felicity knows, she lost the battle before it even begun despite the fact that she managed to walk away and she never won another since, not until the day she met Oliver Queen in her beloved crucible on the IT floor in Queen Consolidated.

That day, Oliver broke her bubble full force, he stole her focus without even trying, in a matter of minutes she was on the Oliver Queen one way highway, speeding away, with the safety off and zero retreating plans.

Oliver's mere existing is reason enough for relief to flush in Felicity's system, a sense of belonging would automatically wash over her.

Just like Oliver, the same goes for Queen Consolidated specifically her IT job, it was her first job after college, the first step in her identity set up, it gave her the right amount of stability, it was in a way a safety net to always fall back in to.

When she was assigned head of the Applied Sciences Division, it was a big change to her, of course the new position was everything she worked for every waking hour going from school to college, and still she couldn't help but feel a ping of bitterness low in her belly every time she left Queen Consolidated.

However as soon as she steps in her new office and closes the door that had her name on it, her heart immediately fills with hope and the thrill of the future, a future of a city, of the world if she had any say in it, that's how far her ambition yearned to reach.

As much as felicity could be painted as a carefree person, when handed a responsibility nothing short of a one hundred percent successful outcome is acceptable, there is no next time, no oops I should've situations. You want to be a part of her team, then you better be up for it.

She formed a solid unit, one that got work done, where there is no room for chaos, she held no reservation back, you stray out of the coordinated system, and you get a definitive out.

That's why anger took over her when she entered her workplace, on the surface all looked in order, but she knew better, employees where sloppy here, over-tasking there, for Google's sake she skipped one day, and they managed to throw out of the window any work related courtesies only except a selected few, her most trustworthy employees: her always hyperactive assistant jerry, Rick Tubin her mechanical engineering department's head , Nina Jackson head of biochemical engineering and lastly Diamond Viraldi head of computational sciences . The five of them created a tight circle and managed to keep the division on the right track.

Something had to be done but a nagging voice kept telling her to slow down, surprisingly she decided to listen to that voice, to lay low and observe.

Waiting for her employees to give their scheduled reports on the latest update of their newest projects, she sat at her desk trying to pin point what is it that's making her feel completely out of place, with no luck finding a particular answer, she decided to power up her desk computer, maybe looking in the security footage of the day before, would give her some answers. Just when she was about to give up, something caught her attention, Maria in the reception desk was crying, that girl was the definition of a tough nut, she wasn't a cold person just not a cry one, specially not in work "Weird" Felicity breathed out.

Speaking of Maria, she called this morning asking the day off without any explanation, another action out of character, leaving the reception desk in the hands of clumsy peter, who thankfully called her before shuffling the appointment system that she personally installed and wasting days of contacting everyone on it for a new scheduling.

"What's weird?" Diamond asked as she sat in the chair in front of Felicity's office.

"D! Hey" Felicity's startled turning her computer off not so subtly, if Diamond noticed, she didn't comment on her boss strange act.

Diamond was the younger in her team, she was very smart and very beautiful, her beauty attracted to her all sort of attention wanted and unwanted. it reached the point of abuse when her college boyfriend won't take it that she would dump him for doing drugs and failing to graduate the year.

Felicity met her by mere coincidence and helped her take legal actions against him, she helped her get past the trauma and stand on her two feet. Felicity always felt a pull to the girl, to save her from her demons and those of the world around her.

Yup, Felicity Smoak has a definite M.O., she thought to herself astonished by the realization that she should've figured a long time ago.

Apparently she was too focused on her screen, she didn't hear the red head's knock on the door. "It's nothing, I guess yesterday is still having its toll on me".

"You're not supposed to be here you idiot. When people get kidnapped, they stick their asses on their bed at home and rest, for all we know you're developing PTSD right now".

Felicity chuckled at the familiar voice, both girls turned to see Nina waltzing inside making a bee line towards Felicity who knew exactly what her friend was going to do and stood surrendering to the bone crushing hug Nina was about to deliver, true to herself Nina didn't let go of Felicity until after she heard her pleas.

Nina was a very affectionate person that not everybody can understand her way of communicating, most people considered her too overwhelming and therefore took distance from her which made her social life difficult, but Felicity knew that her friend's mannerism is more than worth enduring if it means getting the golden person beneath all the fake talk and pleasantries, the woman was fiercely loyal and A+ genius, add to that her devastating sense of humor and you have the friend of a lifetime recipe.

"Ouh! Ouh! I came in time for the lovin, girls you're too good to me, you're giving me a sweet tooth" Rick excitedly cheered.

"Shut up Rick" all three women said in union teasing the mechanic.

"Would it shoot you in the leg if you tried to be nicer to me?"

"Yeah it would" all three answered playfully.

"Come on Rickyy don't be sad you'll always be my favorite robot maker". Rick smiled at that, Felicity always knew what to say to demonstrate the point she wants, everyone knows he takes extra pride in his technical skills. When you come from a background like the one rick came from you'll be extra possessive about your academic levels, because in a time where education is pretty much on the same level as eating habits, people would be surprised to the point of disbelieve at the possibility of places where said education is optional and higher education is pointless, it takes immense strength to push through these environments, to fight for your dreams against all odds.

Felicity always admired Rick's fighting spirit and that's something coming from her, his perseverance is without a doubt the reason a lot of her ideas saw the light.

The meeting didn't take long primarily because there was no results to report, "the power went off! Seriously?" Felicity stood full of irritation.

"Listen the entire block was out and no we couldn't use our backup generators because the hospital needed the electricity until the problem was fixed, a day care bus hit a construction site so it got really nasty and we're the only facility around that can provide the amount of energy they needed and it was only for a couple of hours" rick explained.

"And without the power the samples died, it'll take at least another month to get new ones" Nina stated.

"God! I have the worst luck ever" Felicity sighed dropping in her chair forcefully.

"Well Tuckerman's got it way worse than you" at her boss's confusion, Diamond Clarified "he's the reason the power went out, it was his shift working on the city's electricity panel. He had a heart attack and dropped the bottle of water he was holding, frying the part controlling our district".

"Shit, Never Have Liquids Around Electronics, I hope he uses that lesson in the afterlife" Felicity said, if that story was anything it was depressing and equally frustrating, not only it ruined her work, a man lost his life.

"Now what boss?" Nina asked curiously, the samples were her responsibility, and she felt a little shame knowing they got ruined on her watch even though it was impossible to avoid the situation, the human cells they were experiencing on had to be alive so that only gave the doctor a ten minutes window before she had to put them back in their containment, the computer stopped his programing mid-way locking the samples in it during the black-out.

"We keep going as always but I'm not letting yesterday affect the F-20 prototype like everything else" Felicity answered.

"Honey, the only samples left available are in Sydney, Australia, there's absolutely no way we can get them and test them by next week" Nina exclaimed.

"I can get them by tomorrow, you just worry about setting up the lab, the lunching party will stay on schedule, and next Sunday we'll show the world what breaking the impossible means". Felicity assured her employees that nodded, skepticism written all over their faces.

It's time she called in central city to say hi, after all if Barry brushed her off, Caitlin will set him straight, this project was her idea as much as it was Felicity's, if they're not going to use super speed for human deliveries then for what? Right.

* * *

All in all it was a good workday, that didn't mean she wasn't tired as hell, pulling in the back of Verdent she dragged herself to the foundry wishing that the criminals would give her a quiet night, she felt the energy draining out of her with every passing minute and not even Oliver Queen on the salmon ladder, where she found him, helped buffing up her energy levels.

She greeted Diggle and Roy, training on the side and sank in her chair gleefully. She allowed herself a minute of calmness closing her eyes, sixty seconds where she wasn't Felicity Smoak but a butterfly, where she didn't need to change the world but let the world change her, evolve her from a caterpillars to the flower flying friend, where all her existing is about spreading beauty and innocence.

However, life made her something else, something way harder than a butterfly, more efficient. It gave her the sharpness to know her strength, to see the right thing, to fight for it, and to win.

The same sharpness that made her and Oliver connect on the deep level they do, they both know what to do and exactly how, each in his own way, with Oliver he turned to Mother Nature using a bow and arrow. Her weapon of choice was the human's essence of evolution, the latest step it made in its journey to infinity, his ability to think, to desire, to change so she used technology to channel the fire inside her melting the sadness, the horrors, and the injustice.

Opening her eyes she saw Oliver headed towards her "are you okay? You look tired. Maybe we should call it a night, after all nothing has come up that the SCPD can't handle"

"I don't know, I'd feel bad leaving early like that" Felicity shyly admitted.

Oliver was about to object when an alert reporting a suicide case popped on the screen behind his girl.

"Did the 'I hate my life' genie sneeze in the city's water supply? That's the third suicide case in two weeks frame and that without mentioning the other ten in the past couple months. I mean with crimes there's a bad guy to punch, who would you go after in these cases? It must be agonizing for the families" Roy interjected turning to the aim practice area.

"The sneezy genie" Felicity said out loud with a look of concentration on her face unaware of the blank faces Oliver and Roy had at her words.

"You think there's something or someone behind the suicides" Diggle added reading the blonde perfectly. Their brotherly connection didn't build only on emotions,they had a way of communication that only they had.

"Yes! It's a gut thing, wait a sec" Felicity turned then pulling all the reports related to the suicide cases ever since it increased significantly.

"Other than the fact that all the victims are under twenty-nine, nothing flashes out" leaning further she pushed her Glasses up her nose, something deep inside of her told her that there's a connection, she just needed a sign, any sign "HA! All the victims lived at some point in their lives in the same building, or had a family member living there, the building is near a culinary school so almost all of its tenants are students".

"How does that help connecting the cases?" Oliver questioned.

"Felicity, can you please search for Rose Merlimar? He was on the news a couple of weeks ago." Diggle asked pulling a chair and sitting next to her.

Felicity was not sure about the relativity between that girl and the investigation on their hands Diggle was looking for however when she did what he asked, the picture became way clearer.

"Rose lived in that building for one month, she left after dropping the culinary school, she's also a senate's daughter, and a daddy girl to be exact. She had a close relationship with her father so when she was found dead dangling from a tree in the park, he refused the implication that she could've possibly killed herself and put every Starling detective on her case turning it into a crime investigation that's why she didn't make it to my list, she wasn't considered a suicide case".

"Did the cops find anything?" it was Roy's turn to ask.

"Not yet, the case is still open, the coroner's report state that she died a suicidal death so that only leaves psychological incitement"

"Okay " Oliver started "Let's go back to the beginning, all of these people have the building in common and if we're going to adopt the psychological incitement theory, that means the real link is someone related to that building. We have to make a list of all workmen in that building along with frequent visitors and cross-references it with Rose's life."

Oliver pinched his nose, this felt too fishy to his liking "When you attempt suicide especially for the first time you hesitate automatically but whether you push through and do it that's a different story, and it's almost never done in public. Those people died in public, whoever pulled them to it wanted to make a statement, an attitude like that hints a little of desperation." He took a breath, ready to share his final conclusion "whoever did this, in case he exists and those people didn't actually kill themselves, had to make sure they succeeded, he was at the scene at the time".

"I'll work on it, if there's someone there, I'll find him" Felicity promised taking a mental note to ask Oliver on his detailed suicide related knowledge.

A life without Oliver was the unthinkable to her and a suicidal Oliver turned her insides out with a mixture of disbelief, worrisome and complete misery. She wasn't a stranger to dramatic involvements, she might not know how many times Island Oliver thought about suicide or if he even tired it– unsuccessfully – but she knows Oliver now, her Oliver and he'd never do that to himself, to his family, to_ her._ She had to trust him on that otherwise she'll self-destruct. Her constant belief in him was for the most part a primary survival act for her.

He was her sun, her equilibrium and her existence related to his, in every way possible.

* * *

If there's a multitasking competition Felicity was sure she'd take the golden medal by now, between shuffling the evidences from the suicide cases and looking into the previous version of the spider* the network she and Carl are supposedly assigned to protect* in order to stop any future attacks or at least unravel the identity of the corrupt, all the while managing her day work as she liked to call it, she Barely had time for herself and Oliver, and as a result the few hours of sleep she got after a tiring day were always greatly treasured which made her hesitance waking up to her phone ringing at 7 a.m. on a Sunday morning easily justified, doesn't the world knows she needs her sleep for any hope of keeping her sanity?

Cursing the offending devise _yes that's how much she was tired_, she lifted herself on her elbows, reaching for it. A small frown formed on her face when she finally managed to see the caller's ID "Laurel" Felicity whispered uncertainty rubbing her sleepy eyes.

To say that that phone call left Felicity dizzy is an understatement, she knew she had to go to the precinct, yet she couldn't find the strength to move a muscle, her heartbeat was fastening uncontrollably, trying to compose herself, she reached for Oliver almost aggressively jolting him awake.

Walking into a police precinct was one of Felicity's least tolerable experiences but when need called for it, Felicity Smoak- Head of the applied sciences division of Queen Consolidated-took charge with none other than the CEO of Queen Consolidated himself on her trail.

"Morning, sorry for waking you this early, I know you're not a morning person but I brought coffee, figured you'd need them". Laurel greeted the couple offering the steaming liquid to an overly eager Felicity.

"It's okay, you're doing your job and much more by giving us this heads up" Oliver stated, following Laurel to the interrogation room.

"She's in there, you have half an hour max" Laurel said opening the door behind her "just one more thing, from the looks of it she doesn't like Oliver much but trusts you Felicity, I say you do the talking".

Felicity understood what Laurel was trying to say, after all Maria was her employee no matter what was written on the papers and she always had her employees' back.

"Miss Smoak?" Maria shot up from her seat at the view of her visitors.

"The DA is a friend of mine, she called me" Felicity explained settling in the opposite chair. "Maria, you're a brilliant girl, and a practical one, what you're doing now is not you. You're wasting your time, your money, fighting something you're not sure exists for someone you barely knew. And with all of that comes the risk of it, if you lose this lawsuit you'll be buried in debt from now till the end of sunshine". Felicity calmly reached for the girl's hand.

"He's not someone I barely knew, he was my half-brother" Maria spit out "my father never acknowledge him legally, when I finished high school, I searched for him and found him here in starling. I moved here because I wanted to know him, I wanted my brother. _Yes_, he was a heavy drinker but he's been clean for over a year, he's not a selfish asshole that drives a daycare bus drunk up to his nose".

Felicity opened her mouth only to be stopped by a snapping voice "HE'S CLEAN and I won't let anyone tarnish his name, that accident was not his fault".

"Firstly, his Blood test came positive for alcohol, Laurel Lance spoke with the coroner and trust me she's a breathing Shit detector, he has no interest tampering his report nor he's incompetent to make a mistake like that, if nothing else you're ruining the guy's reputation. Secondly, blaming the adaptive traffic system control means you're blaming Queen Consolidated since it manufactured the technology and I'm perfectly sure that we didn't give the public a failed monitors to control their lives, it means you're blaming _me_ ". After a moment of silence, Felicity continued "We've always been friends, you always trusted my judgment, I'm asking you to trust me now. You. Can't. Win .This." Felicity gently warned her friend.

Oliver was sitting at the side listening quietly to the exchange, out of everything, he wasn't expecting to wake up to a million dollars lawsuit against his company and definitely not from a QC employee, something like this would drag QC's name to the mud again even if the lawsuit flunked, and he wasn't going to let anyone set him back, not after all the hard work and restless nights.

The girl had zero facts to support her claim but she had the fire of a believer, the kind that could surpass evidence and numbers if used correctly, a contagious conviction. Before the island, people branded Ollie as a people person and it was true even if only on the surface, he always had a way with words, knew how to push people's buttons and it was this specific skill, that helped him survive a lot of close calls in the beginning of his time on the island, it allowed him to know who to trust, the right moment to escape and provided him with a vital method of distraction, the Arrow has an enhanced version of it, he knows how to read people, to detect their lies by the tune of their voice and the frequency of their words, to use their insecurities against them and lastly to recognize a believer, when someone repeatedly tells the truth ultimately turning any further questioning a waste of time.

Siding himself allowed Oliver to observe freely, he concentrated on Maria's features making sure to get to the bottom of her allegations so the minute she told Felicity she had proof with fortitude vibrating out of her, mouthing a word he couldn't quite figure out from his angle, he was off of his chair reaching for her, demanding whatever she had under her sleeve.

However he never got the chance because just then a piercing sound took over the room and Oliver could only make the shape of Maria scream and when the deafening wave ended so did the young employee's life.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4: Fatal expressions.**_

_**AN First of all: I'm sorry for taking so long to update, there was a lot of factors that played into that, one of the main ones was college, I only graduated a month ago and to say that the past year was a year from hell would only be a fair description that and the fact that I had a not so loving relationship with arrow season 4 that put a damper on anything concerned with arrow fanfiction. But as I promised I won't abandon the story ,hope you can hang in there with me but sadly I can't promise the next update soon because even tho I finished my bachelor in law I have an admission exam to be able to start my masters so pretty much everything in my life is going in freeze mode until after I passed that so wish me luck.**_

_**PS: Most of the chapter was written while I listened to the Grounder Anthem from the series the 100 so for those who watch the 100 you'll probably have an idea what's waiting for you, LOL.**_

_**Lastly a dedication: She's a marshmallow, I want to thank you for giving me hope into writing again without even realizing it.**_

_**-I don't own Arrow- No beta: all mistakes are mine- Now that's out of the way, onto the chapter shall we? ;)**_

* * *

Felicity sat motionless, it all happened so fast and in the same time agonizingly slow. She saw how the life went out of her friend and couldn't do anything about it, it was the same all over again and she couldn't believe that she had to live through such an experience _again. _The situation was simply too much, she couldn't find it in her to move or to respond to Oliver's pleas desperately shaking her focus back to the room where Maria's lifeless body was, were Maria was murdered. She knew exactly what happened, _they_ killed her, they always staged their murders perfectly to make it seem random but that was never the case, every single move they made was calculated and served a certain purpose, so that left the room for one question: why kill an innocent like that and in that exact timing right in front of her eyes.

She suddenly felt a wave of sleepiness clinging to her and she knew that she should've fought it but the exhaustion from the past few minutes was relentless but so was Oliver's voice in her ear,* baby just answer me, are you okay?* Oliver asked her, and she seaw in him what only her could see, confusion written all over his face, barely keeping it together yet he never stopped talking to her, never stopped the physical contact and just like that he guided her back to reality because she had to protect him, If they were coming than she was the only hope he's got, and Carl 's words came back to her, she was the only hope _anyone_'s got.

Laurel rushed to the room stunned by the scene in front of her, stunned even more by the tortured look on Felicity's face, she called for the officers to take the poor girl to the morgue to start the official proceedings and maybe figure out what made the girl drop dead in the span of seconds, Just moments later a technician came to see the reason that sound erupted in the room.

But Felicity couldn't wait a second later, she stood leaving, barely knocking Laurel out of the way, she need it to talk to Carl, she needed a plan of action, she needed to deal with Oliver trying to stop her demanding to know her train of thoughts, God Oliver! The danger he's in! What can she do? she thought to herself, she felt panic threatening to take her again but she wouldn't let it and the only way for that to happen was to be away from Oliver, from the personification of everything she wanted in life and could lose so she did the only thing she could, she snapped at him "Oliver just let me be, I just had the most horrifying experience of my life- that would be a lie- and I can't have you smothering me, I just… I just need to clear my head so would you for the love of GOD just leave me _alone_" Oliver looked at her like an alien and she couldn't blame him, she could clearly see the hurt in his eyes with her bluntly rejecting him trying to comfort her . _He'll recover_, she unsuccessfully convinced herself before storming off leaving Oliver standing in the streets wondering what the hell he did to lose felicity like that.

Felicity settled on a bench in the park, head between her hands staring at the ground, finally she lifted her eyes and laid back against the bench patting herself on the back for managing to stop crying enough to face the people enjoying the beautiful weather around her, she texted Carl about fifteen minutes ago and he still hasn't showed up and considering what happened this morning her worry was exceeding with every passing minute.

She simply couldn't collect her thoughts, it was all so blurry. Why they would come back into her life just when she felt a glimpse of hope and stability again was beyond her. Was the world really that cruel? She didn't deserve this, to have her happiness striped away from her as in repeat mode, she already lost people in her life to _them_ and they came back to take the rest.

Oh she so wouldn't let them get away with _that_, she would burn every single one of them to the ground if they as much as touched a hair on her loved ones but haven't they already? Weren't Maria her friend even if she didn't have a close relationship with her? The concept stays the same, they attacked a fraction of her life even if it's a far rocked the boat, what would be stopping them from sinking it all together. She would, her eyes hardened on the spot, she abruptly stood up opting not to wait for Carl anymore and to start planning a defensive curse of action. She wouldn't leave anything to chance.

* * *

***May 12, 2009***

"Sweetie, I'm back!" Felicity shouted in hopes that her friend would be home but as she suspected the house was dead silent which meant that Lily has taken Jaiden to his basketball game so she had the house all to herself for a couple of hours. Felicity plumped to the couch in her living room, looking around she felt a sudden tightness in her chest, ever since moving in with her best friend she simply couldn't imagine living alone ever again.

Meeting Lily was a blessing Felicity was thankful for ever since she met the elegant blonde, a complete opposite of her with her signature dark hair and the even darker style of clothing. Lily was ten years Felicity's senior however that did not affect their relationship at all, somehow Lily had an ageless aura around her that engulfed the people lucky enough to be in her orbit, whether they were older than her or younger, something about her always closed the gap.

Having lived her life with a single parent who worked almost all the time to provide for her, Felicity bitterly knew what loneliness means, her higher intellect was always an obstacle for her communicating with her peers whom split in two categories really, one that hated her and let their insecurities run the curse of their relationships and the other one that was genuinely nice to her but simply couldn't catch up with her and eventually drifted away. Her childhood was far from normal and yet she never knew what she was missing until she found true friendship, it made her look back to all the time lost with remorse, made her shake her fist at the unfairness of the world, why did she have to endure such emptiness?

Lily filled her life with laughter, hope, beauty and most of all evolvement. She pushed Felicity to be better especially considering she was an even more of a genius then felicity was and kept challenging her to finish at the top of her class, to finish college a year early, to never give up on life no matter what. Felicity always admired the woman's strength that let her carry on raising a child alone along finishing college after going through a painful split with the father of her child, someone that betrayed his wife after eight years of marriage at the time she needed him the most, letting her grabble at life from her hospital bed sick and fragile.

Felicity came to see Jaiden as her own, the only reason she wasn't there at his practice was the fact that it was at the same time as her exam and she thought that she would have a little bit of rest after she finished it, maybe some sleep. It was the finals before she could officially call herself a graduate having her masters at the age of twenty, it was almost surreal and made all her pain and struggle seem worth it in the end.

But who was she kidding? She wouldn't be able to shake away her uneasiness until both the mother and son were right in front of her eyes. The past few months were a true hellish experience, she almost lost them. She gulped at the memory, shaking her head willing the act to swipe away any resident picture of them under the grasp of the evil that threatened them for almost two years.

Even though they walked away from the situation almost unscathed, having fought off an international crime organization wanting to claim your intelligence for the service of her own evil agenda and reconciling with your estranged father along the way. Felicity felt that something was wrong.

At first they wanted only lily however when felicity intervened trying to save her friend, both of them became at the center of the bull's-eye but they saved themselves, they created the super virus and got rid of them once and for all or that what she hoped for with all her might. After all, living in a world that's dominated by computers, hitting that aspect of their operation is more than enough to cripple their advancement, and to make sure they never appeared in their lives again.

But still a cold shiver ran through her every time she thought of H.I.V.E., almost like waiting for the other shoe to drop. Maybe because it hasn't been long since they were truly free, and such a small period weren't enough to untangle yourself from the ramification of such an experience, to feel safe in your own skin again. Sometimes she felt like the entire situation has been nothing but a cruel joke in the shape of dream with _that bastard_ watching her, laughing at her, mocking the very notion of her ever escaping him and then she found herself choking, an invisible hand was squeezing off her air supply, as if he was nourishing off of the life he was escorting out of her.

Were they truly free? She forced her eyes to examine the peaceful state of her house, she closed her eyes just for a second as of archiving the picture in her mind and said aloud "maybe, just maybe it's over". She realized then that sitting alone obsessing wasn't going to stop the slippery slope that her thoughts were leading her towards and decided to head over to the court where Jaiden was playing because seeing him as he scored a point to his team, buffing his chest like he was on top of the world as sweetly as any other twelve year old would, was the only thing that could have made her dare to believe that they were in fact alright.

Felicity made out the place of her friend by the bleachers the minute she stepped foot on the playground not that it was hard to recognize the giant sign that said *Jaiden is my rocket boy* but her screams cheering him on even though the second quarter of the game hasn't even started would have been more than a clear indication.

Jaiden's team won the game that day, it was the first game his team won since he joined so Lily decided that such an achievement deserved a proper celebration. They hopped in Lily's car driving in the direction of big belly burger, Jaiden loved the place and admittedly the three of them were starving.

Felicity looked at the giddy grin plastered on the boy in front her biting enthusiastically into the food in front of him and she couldn't sustain herself from taking him twenty years ahead, seeing him graduating college, having a family. Her eyes watered then holding a silent wish that she'd be in his life when that happened.

Lily noticed the change in felicity's features, she reached to her squeezing her shoulder and smiling affectionately. Lily was all too aware of Felicity's fear of letting her guard down, hell she wasn't able to do that herself despite all the façade that she put up for both Jaiden and Felicity's benefit since she knew breaking down wouldn't have solved their problems and taking a moment to hate the world and spiral against it wasn't a luxury they had. She had to keep going, there was no another way and if it included lying to herself so be it because they will get through this, she had to believe that.

Felicity relaxed at her friend's attempt to reassure her but the moment of hope and promises of a brighter future waiting for them on the other side, was shortened way too fast because just then Jaiden started coughing hysterically trying to breathe to no avail, his lungs closing up on him. His mother tried to reach him except she was suddenly freezing in place as she started losing her air supply as well, what on earth was happening?

Felicity looked helplessly as panic started gripping at her bones when she faintly heard the waiter asking if she was okay declaring that help was on its way. What help? Felicity cried out as the mother and boy drifted into oblivion.

"NO..NO..NO..NO" Felicity shook her friend harder and harder, tears clouding her vision as she tried with everything in her to keep her sight from blurring, holding on to them to engrave their picture in her memory, her soul as if only one blink and she would have lost even that. A numbness crept up all over her body pushing her to follow them, to wherever _they_ would be going but she couldn't do that, she already promised Lily that she wouldn't give up her live no matter how dark it became and even if she didn't believe in her promise anymore at that moment, she wouldn't have tarnished their friendship and broke it then.

_A letter of apology_, which was all she got after her world crumbled on her head. However that wasn't the only letter she found on her doorstep that day, apparently the food that was delivered to them that time was switched with another order that requested a fish burger when Lily specifically ordered the normal hamburger considering she and Jaiden had Anaphylaxis related to seafood but yet it shouldn't have cost them their lives not like that but when you thought about it, it all made an excruciatingly amount of sense, and it was all written in the other letter with excruciating detail as well.

God, she wanted to set the world on fire just to see it burn. The mysterious letter explained that the food that was given to Lily and Jaiden was injected with high and concentrated dose of fish protein which meanwhile could probably cause sickness to a normal person, it could cause immediate death to someone with severe allergy. And just like that everything clicked like a timed machine_, they_ killed her best friend and her son, a kid that she saw like her own. They wanted to eliminate the threat, that's freaking too bad for them then because they should've killed her along with Lily since there was absolutely no way she wouldn't be chasing them till the end of earth to make them pay.

Her breath caught in her throat at the thought, they killed Lily, why not her too. Maybe they were already gunning for her waiting for the right moment, yet didn't that moment pass already, she was also allergic to nuts and they could've served her a death recipe as well. If so what could have saved her? Or _who? _They could be someone trying to use her just like H.I.V.E.

Her eyes glazed at the letter in her hand, it concluded with an address and a specific time and a single phrase that boiled her blood _* avenge them _*. Acknowledging to herself what she had to do, she would go to whoever wrote her this letter or warning really and she would help them defeat this enemy be it H.I.V.E that's been terrorizing them for years or someone completely different, she was going to take her revenge not caring even if the help she was getting was evil in itself.

Felicity climbed out of the taxi and looked around for anything specific that could help her find the sender of the mysterious letter, she swallowed the lump in her throat. The address was actually Jaiden' school and the time was the memorial the school was throwing in his name, Felicity remembered how struck her reaction was once she read the time because only two things would drive the sender to write such a timing and that was they were either trying to offer compassion by showing that they know exactly what she lost or they were simply trying to drive their point home by aggravating her anger and need for justice. In both cases it was extremely confident of them however something in the way the letter was worded, it made her sense that said confidence came from a raw place as if they knew exactly how she would think and feel, almost as if they _knew _what _she was _experiencing.

She entered the hall, all she could think of was exactly how was she going to function enough to find her target without her mind turning to mush from all the feelings threatening to flood her, his favorite ball was put right next to his picture with flyers for allergy awareness all over the place, she looked around and saw him in every kid passing by, she saw Lily in every mother tugging her son to her heart.

Every smile in the room was theirs, every hug, every playful comment and this was a horrible idea because she was on the edge of hyperventilating when a dog crashed into her knocking her off balance. Wait what? She looked puzzled at the offending animal and noticed that the dog managed to spill everything inside the sandwich he was holding right onto her coat and God what was fate doing to her? Wasn't the concept of adding salt to injury too much in her situation?

A gentleman hurried pulling the dog away and looked at her apologetically "Sorry, his favorite game is basketball so whenever he sees an orange ball he speeds to it with all his clumsiness. Besides fish makes him really ill, I have no idea why he would take the sandwich from the counter in the first place. He's twelve weeks old still need time to be trained properly". The man finished talking having said every world staring straight into her eyes. It took Felicity a couple of seconds to gather herself trying to register what the man in front of her just said, she wanted to take his words at face value but something in his relentless stare, a silent request to dig deeper so she did and as she finished, she stuttered backward. It couldn't be yet it couldn't not be the implication in his statement were too much, was he… She had to make sure.

"Where is the puppy's mother?" she finally asked, returning his stare at him.

"Dead, even though I tried to save her but the dog shelter cornered me with time so I was only able to save her friend from termination because she was ten years younger" He replied with a sad expression. "Would you like to see her? I have a picture in my pocket she has this really beautiful blonde hair"

She looked at him baffled, did he just mention _her_ blonde hair? After Lily she dyed her hair because it gave her a sense of closeness to her friend. Could he really be the person who sent her the letter? and if so why wouldn't he come out to her? Why all the cryptic speech? Were they somehow followed? Or worse bugged? She decided than to play along. His words wouldn't give a definitive affirmation but she knew what would, she thought while passing her hand on the stain that was planted on her coat thanks to the dog earlier.

She asked him one question "I hate fishy stains I would like it very much to sanitize my coat, would you help with that"

An icy grin appeared on his features as he answered her "If your ultimate goal is to sanitize your coat, then you've come to the right person" there it was, that deep desire in his eyes that confirmed the thirst to rip the hearts of everyone that ever wronged them and the glint of misery that gives way to rage and desperation all at once. He was as angry as her, as empty as her and he was the one. "By the way, my name is Carl Zado. What's yours?" he finished sticking his hand out to her for formal greeting.

* * *

**_*Present day*_**

Oliver wanted to smell blood on his hands, he wanted to hit something so bad that he couldn't keep his palms from fisting, he felt like he was about to crawl out of his own skin, he wanted to wipe that smug smile off of the person heading towards him with confidence like he owned the conversation before it even started, Oliver could feel dishonesty oozing out of this Carl person, he was almost sure that no matter what he asked him, the answer wouldn't be true despite what the Bratva code demanded.

He hated the way he left things with felicity but what was he supposed to do after she told him to get as far from her as possible? She didn't just reject his offer of help, she banned him from even communicating with her, let alone trying to put her mind at ease, he felt at that moment completely powerless, a feeling that he's been through before but never from Felicity.

Whenever they fought someone would have been to blame whether it's him –most of the time- or her but they never reached a road block because of something neither one of them had any hand in it. It's a paralyzing feeling to see the person you love the most slipping right through your fingers without any clues whatsoever why or how to stop it.

However, powerless is a feeling Oliver swore never to feel again the minute he stepped out of the island so he did the first thing that came to his mind that seemed to give even a shred of control back to him related to felicity, he contacted Carl through the information he got from Diggle and demanded an urgent meeting hence the reason said person is sitting across from him greeting him in Russian before downing the shot of vodka Oliver had placed in front of him, the latter doing the same.

"So, I doubt you're here on business because if you were I would've been notified, how's starling treating you so far?" Oliver started.

"Well you are correct that I'm here for personal reasons though I doubt you'd have any idea in case otherwise." Oliver's jaw ticked at the implications the words held "And to answer your question, the city is truly wonderful just like its people even thought I don't have any friends in it I stay mainly the scenery" Carl finished.

"Is that right? Because I could almost swear I saw you today with a friend" Oliver wondered innocently. He desperately needed for Carl to slip any kind of information, he might've not knew what exactly it was that Carl was doing in the city but he knew that he did meet Felicity today no matter how much they wanted to cover the fact with their weird antic. The fact angered him, right about the time Felicity was distancing herself from him, this stranger suddenly popped in her life, their lives and he knew that Felicity was not the person that could hurt the people she cared about _like that, _still he couldn't help the wave of jealousy that overtook him. Just then, Carl's watch beeped and Oliver could've swore that he saw a look of guilt pass the other man's eyes for half a second.

"Oh! No, I assure you _whatever _you think you saw must've been a misunderstanding but I'd like to think that our meeting right now is one between friends" Carl explained and turned his head obviously looking for the waiter, having successfully located him, he faced Oliver to tell him that he'd like to settle the bill and leave except he never had the chance because the minute he faced Oliver, he was met with the latter's fist knocking him unconscious.

At the look of frustration that Diggle sent him, Oliver only shrugged "he lied!"

* * *

**_AN: Not much action in this chapter but I felt like it was the right time to tell Lily's story considering it aligns with Maria's as well and is the main reason Felicity is what she is in present day in my story universe. Honestly, I like to link felicity's attitude after Lily's death to the advice she gave Oliver in the show after the death of Moira to not give up his life. Also as you may have noticed that I kept cooper but pushed him to the period of felicity's life post college and linked him to the two years when she created the spider network with Carl which means he knows about the super virus and used it but he wasn't the one that created it with her, it was Lily and in consequence she transformed from Goth to blonde in honor of Lily not in reaction to him._**

**_One last thing: Carl's fate is hanging on the balance for me right now so I thought I'd take your input so guys so in which direction would you like me to take his character?_**

**_Thank you for everyone that took the time to read the chapter, it wasn't easy for me to get back to writing fanfiction so I sinceriously hope it was worth the wait._**

**_Till next time be safe: )_**

**_-Farah-_**


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